Leo Varadkar Says Government ‘cannot Seize Church Lands’

By Tim O'Brien, Patsy McGarry
Irish Times
March 15, 2017

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/leo-varadkar-says-government-cannot-seize-church-lands-1.3009003

Leo Varadkar said several religious orders had “made significant contributions already” but others had not.

A referendum on giving the Government powers to seize lands owned by the Catholic Church in order to recoup a shortfall in payments for abuse victims would probably be lost, Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar has said.

Mr Varadkar was speaking after Minister for Health Simon Harris said there would be “significant merit” in seizing hospital and school property in light of a report which showed shortcomings in the church’s contribution to a redress scheme for those abused in Catholic institutions.

Mr Harris called on the Vatican and Irish church leaders pressurise religious orders to pay half the cost of the scheme, which the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) found had hit ˆ1.5 billion at the end of 2015, with just ˆ192 million coming from the church.

Mr Varadkar said there was a constitutional impediment to seizing lands in order to try to make up the shortfall even though “the Government is really determined” to ensure as much as possible is recovered.